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How do you organize your barn aisle?

This may seem like a really stupid question, but I'm genuinely curious how people with their own (personal) barns keep their aisles.

When I've boarded, for aesthetics and tidiness, there was nothing allowed in the aisles. The stall doors had blanket bars but you could not load it up with junk that could fly off easily or stick out really far.

Do you like your barn aisle completely clear of anything? Do you have a saddle rack? Trunk? Blanket bars?

The reason I ask is, this is the first year I have full stalls and all horses with blankets. In the past, when I had only one horse with a blanket, when it needed to dry, I just draped it over an empty stall door. Now, they're full, so I am looking at blanket bars. But don't know if I want all that in the aisle. maybe I want one of those that attaches to a wall.

for the looks I prefer nothing - but practically that is difficult. This time of year it is tough - you need a fleece cooler, rain sheet, turnout, stable and neck - each of the working horses have this. Add to that their halter/ shank and fly mask in the summer.

Blanket bar on each stall, fold down saddle racks - as we groom on cross ties in the aisle and hooks on the wall for halter. There is also a hook at the end of the door to hang the blanket if wet.

that's it. We do sometimes have a bale of hay at one end - but that's it. No trunks or anything else.

We are private though and our horses come in and out of their stalls without halters at feeding time. They are let in and out one at a time.

I would say it may depend on how wide your aisle is, how much traffic it has and which kind, colts being started, gentle older trail riding/school horses, etc.

Most barns I have been in have nothing but if something, maybe blankets, feed buckets and halters hanging by the stalls, nothing else.
Some pictures of fancy barns seem to have personalized trunks by the stalls, but we kept those in the tack rooms.

There are many different ways to manage barns, including barn aisles.
Will be interesting to hear about all of them.

I agree with the above. I have nothing in the aisles, but I plan on putting in blanket bars on stalls when I get the time. It's just easier to hang not only blankets, but any bandages/boots that I need a temporary home for.

I have found the blanket bars don't add that much "bulk" to the aisles from previous experiences boarding. Another option that one of the barns where I boarded did was a separate "blanket wall" that was out of the main aisle, but still easily accessible. They put hooks at the top and blankets were hung there.

I have the fold-down blanket bars on my stalls. After blanket season, they fold down flat on the door so nothing sticks out.

Halters/leads are on a hook mounted on the wooden stop for each sliding stall door.

I used to keep a couple of bales of hay in the aisle when all my stalls were full, but now one stall is a dedicated storage stall, so hay, mucking equipment, and extra fans live in there. (fork, shovel and wheelbarrow used to live in washrack, but got in the way there.)

Only thing in the aisle now is a rack of wire shelves to hold grooming supplies.

I like to keep my barn aisle clear of obstacles. Just halters and lead rope by stall doors. Tack goes in the tack room, feed goes in the feed room, blankets and misc stuff hang on wall in feed room out of the way and grooming stuff in in grooming stall.

I have to admit, clutter bugs me. Our barn is being finished in stages (ie- when hubby has the desire...ie - never). So right now its JUST the stalls on either side with an aisle. We have plans for a tack room, feed room, and bathroom, which will solve many of my current problems. It seems when there's a wide open space, you have no room for anything. You need those walls to help organize.

I'm also el cheapo so I don't want to buy anything (like freestanding racks, or anything) that I won't need once we have permanent stuff in place.

I HATE anything in the aisle, maybe a hay bale I can stomach. Buckets, forks, tack trunks...all a hazard & a pain to clean around. Grew up with old dairy farmers & everything better be beyond clean & neat in the barn.

....At a riding centre I worked at in the UK (very well known one) they stored blankets inside the stalls. Blankets were hung up on racks that were higher up and flush with the wall or bailing twine in place of racks so there was no way the horses would get caught in them. Its been working for them for over 40 years.

At barns ive borded at in the past when the aisle has been wide enough tack trunks have been stored outside stalls. There is nothing stored in the aisle at the barn I'm at now; and I prefer it that way for safety reasons. Especially there because 1 end of the aisle leads directly into the field so they sometimes just open the stalls and the horses go right in. There are only 3 horses who all know where they live so this works.

We use our aisle a LOT. Tractor and spreader goes thru daily to clean stalls, bring in bedding. In winter the gator goes in and out each morning to carry hay to outside feeders. We also hitch horses and drive the carriages thru the barn, using the aisle.

I feel NOTHING on the cement floor is the safest idea, with so much daily traffic in the aisle, along with being a fire safety measure. I have a couple HIGH mounted hooks that curve back so no pointed ends out, mounted with small screws that will pull out easiy, shouldl anyone catch on the hooks. We have 4 standing/tie stalls on one side, with the hooks between the stalls for halters and lead ropes. The other side of the aisle has two box stalls with ledges in front of the barred windows. The ledges will hold a brush or bottle of fly spray for a short time during grooming in the crossties. Not a good idea to leave stuff sit very long, horses in the boxes will push it off onto the floor!

Horse stalls are in 1/3 of the barn length, with hay storage, feed room, tack room in the rest of the length. Nothing protrudes out into the aisle to get snagged on a passing vehicle or horse being ridden or driven thru the barn. We have swinging blanket bars along the top of the tack room, for hanging damp coolers or blankets. They fold flat to the wall for driving thru. We don't blanket on a daily basis, so I don't need a big amount of blankets to hand for changing temps. Coolers are for after works in cold weather, to dry off sweaty horses. Hanging full length from the bars up high, the blankets or coolers are dry by the next day to use again.

This is a private barn, we usually have 5-7 horses most times. Aisle is 12ft wide and we can use every inch of it. One of the best things about our barn design is how usable that wide aisle is for so many things. Vet and Farrier trucks can back right in to close out the weather. Harnessing and saddling horses is so easy with that room.

After a Barn Safety Clinic, I just shudder when I see floor stuff along the aisle walls, hay or sawdust bag piles, items hanging from stall doors or blocking clean exits from the barn. Just so unsafe, as well as providing food for flames.

I like to keep my barn aisle clear of obstacles. Just halters and lead rope by stall doors. Tack goes in the tack room, feed goes in the feed room, blankets and misc stuff hang on wall in feed room out of the way and grooming stuff in in grooming stall.

If I have dirty blankets that I am taking off of the horses that are dry, I fold them (as best I can) and then store them in a pile in one of my "dirty rooms" (ie, like where I store feed) until I need them again that winter.

I have my own place, and currently have two horses here. I keep my aisle clear of everything. I have blanket bars in front of the stalls, where halters and blankets are hung. I love the look of an open and clean barn, no clutter anywhere. I have a 16 foot aisle in my barn. In the summer months I'll hang a bottle of fly spray on the blanket bar, too.

Just me, my 2 horses in a 36X36 barn w/2 12X12 stalls along one wall, 12' aisleway and then my hay storage along the opposite wall.
The leftover 12' at the stall side is my tack/feedroom.

I store a year's worth of hay - some 150 small sqaures - on pallets in the space across from the stalls and keep my wheelbarrow, muckfork, shovel and a broom on a clear area on the pallets as well.
At the end farthest from the stalls I have a 3-step ladder (my "mounting block") and a canvas lawn chair for me that also serves as a saddle rack.
I use the paired metal gates that lead into the attached arena as a blanket rack.

Nothing goes in the aisle itself.
Murphy's Eqyuine Law has taught me anything left there will be subject to horsy investigation and/or destruction.
Halters and leads hang on hooks attached to the sliding stall doors.
Each stall has a small wooden shelf that holds a small brush box attached at the same side as the feed opening in the grill.

My hayguy drives his truck & loaded haywagon down the aisle to unload & stack for me.
Just one more reason to keep it clear.

Our barn is around 20 years old, so it shows some wear and tear, but we keep blankets on bars in the aisle and some trunks. The saddle stays out for now cause I don't have another stand for it in the tack room, but it'll move in soon. It's my private barn with my 4 horses on the property now, so one stall is empty and the other is left open to the pasture as a run in.

I plan to lay down rubber this winter because I HATE the concrete when the horses are not cooperative. Other than that, our tack room is too small for all of my trunks

I like to keep my barn aisle clear of obstacles. Just halters and lead rope by stall doors. Tack goes in the tack room, feed goes in the feed room, blankets and misc stuff hang on wall in feed room out of the way and grooming stuff in in grooming stall.

I LOVE how brightly lit your barn is!! Totally unrelated, but I hate dimly lit barns! lol. And all I've been in are dimly lit!

I don't mind tack trunks & saddle racks out in the aisles, and folding blanket racks on the stalls (or like another member posted - the chain through the PVC pipe! Very cheap way to make DIY blanket racks!).

However, since I don't have my own barn, I just have to go with the flow.
If I ever have my own barn, I'd love to have super wide aisles - something like 20 feet (pita to sweep/blow, but so very nice) in order to drive truck, tractor/trailer through, etc. And of course LOTS OF LIGHTS! Lol.